Cuando Tu Vayas a Occidente

They say after the audience

He sailed a white schooner from Rome,

Landed greeted by his partisans and

Dark women in the white sea foam.

With the Pope's blessing and a strong right arm

He became the King of Cuba.

He restored Havana's night-life,

Reclaimed Guantanamo Bay -

At the monthly festival held there

The King and his band often play.

A music- and a merry-maker

Is the King of Cuba.

He smote the pirates off his coast,

Made physicists of the buccaneers.

His ecuyer is heard to boast

No man or beast or shark but fears

The King of Cuba.

Cubans hang-glide now from Pico Turquino,

Down the Rio Cauto Floridans sail,

And everywhere everything flourishes,

From hummingbirds to the white whale.

What could be better than

To be the King of Cuba?

The long-oppressed people have learned

The blessings of liberty

Since there came from the fabled

Oldest land of democracy

The Queen of Cuba.

The six provinces now are six cantons,

A Parliament reports to the Crown,

And somebody opened an Irish pub

In the middle of Havana's Old Town.

It surely couldn't be

The Queen of Cuba.

Shakespeare sits by the throne now,

And the court is amused by wise fools.

Lecciones de Filosofia

Is again read in Cuban schools

Newly built by the Queen of Cuba.

So let us all sing the old Cuban song

``Cuando tu vayas a Occidente'',

Let us fill our glasses with mojito

And drink to peace and passion and plenty.

Long live the King and Queen of Cuba!

a recipe for mojito: 2 fresh mint sprigs; 2 teaspoons sugar; 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 1 1/2 ounces (1 jigger) light rum; chilled club soda or seltzer water; fresh mint sprig and lemon slices for garnish In a tall glass with back of a spoon crush mint with sugar and lemon juice until sugar is dissolved and stir in rum. Add ice cubes and top off drink with club soda or seltzer water. Stir drink well and garnish with mint and lemon.